“I’ve fainted two times in one week, Roman. That says something.”

Roman’s heart kicked up a beat. “And the faint dreams?”

“Oh, baby.” He touched her cheek, wanting the color to return.

She pulled in a breath to steady herself, her hand gripping Roman’s arm for support. In a voice so soft he had to watch her lips move to track her words, she said, “If Stan changed because of me, he’d want to meet me. Like I said, I need to believe he was a good man, brave enough to face me, know me.”

“So suicide is out.”

“Right.”

“What else is there?”

“In my dreams, I’m being suffocated. Maybe someone killed him.”

Excerpt from SWOON, Rolynn Anderson

Today we welcome back author, Rolynn Anderson! Her latest release, SWOON is the second book in her “Funeral Planner Suspense Series” featuring heroine, Jan Solvang.

Besides creating a unique, tasteful ceremony that celebrates the departed, Jan suffers from syncope (abrupt fainting spells, usually brought on by stress or shock.) They only last a minute or two, but in that time she dreams snippets of murder and mayhem which sets her on a mission to find out what exactly happened to the dearly departed.

Along for the adventure are a cast of amazingly quirky characters, including her black Scottish terrier, Elwood, who tracks shadows, senses villains and predicts her fainting spells. Add in her tumultuous relationship with super-hot Roman Keller and you’re caught up in a unique, fast-paced novel.

Hello again, Rolynn! Both FADEOUT and SWOON are chalk-full of interesting characters. Jan’s father ‘The General’ is written with authenticity and authority. Did you grow up in a military family? I did! My father was an Army officer, dragging five kids and a harried wife through 27 moves, Maryland, Wisconsin, Georgia, Germany, Japan and Korea, to name a few. He loved serving, and luckily, we were resilient enough to manage the upheavals in our lives.

I enjoy how Jan Solvang journals snippets of her obituary. Have you ever done that?Or know anyone who has? My father updated his obituary regularly, but the idea of using an obit as a goal-setting device was mine. I used this concept as a lesson plan for my high school students in English class, because many teenagers have such a vague notion of the future along with low ambitions.

My students were attracted by the lesson because it was a tad ghoulish. My theme: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up someplace else.” This is a lesson on specificity, too. I promised them (always the idealist!) the more detailed they made their goal-setting obit, the more likely they would get to their designed future.

Pete is a forensic investigator who is legally blind. What is a forensic investigator and how difficult is it for you as a writer to have him help solve mysteries and murders blind? I learned about a blind forensic investigator in a New York Times feature and was boggled by the concept. Pete works freelance for private and public agencies. He studies all the evidence of a crime, giving a fresh ‘eye’ to it. His forte is interrogation of any and all parties involved; he’s known for ‘seeing’ what no one else observes. Pete is bright, funny and calm, a perfect foil for Jan. My editor is in love with Pete and wants me to give him his own book!

How did you dream up the unnaturally perceptive Elwood?A friend of mine has a black Scottie named Charlie who actually DOES track shadows. What does he see, I asked myself…and that’s the path that led me to Elwood’s prescience.

I read up on Mary Tyler Moore’s dog and other animals that are able to help their masters (Mary’s dog warns her when her blood sugar is low). I ended up giving my dog a growth arc; can you believe it?

I’m also intrigued you added syncope as an issue Jan struggles with. What made you think of that? I’m a pantser as a writer, remember, so I make up a lot of stuff as I go along. I needed to have Jan faint so Roman could touch her…connect with her quickly.

I didn’t want to show her as weak or flighty, so I gave her the disease. Lots of research later, and meeting up a woman who has Syncope but still SCUBA dives…I used the disease as a challenge Jan had to overcome.

Favorite place in the world to visit/live? The Tuscany region of Italy.

Me too! Favorite movie?Last of the Mohicans; An Affair to Remember

(Sigh…Daniel Day-Lewis with long hair…I think you and I are twins, Rolynn. 🙂 ) What’s next for you? My editor has asked for the novel I’ve just completed, entitled LIE CATCHERS.

The setting is Petersburg, Alaska, a real-life fishing village settled by Norwegians in the early 1900’s. My heroine, from Petersburg, and the hero, a U.S Treasury agent from Fresno, have two unsolved murders dogging them. One is real and occurred in 1932 (talk about a cold case) and the other is recent (made-up).

My husband and I cruise on our trawler to Alaska in the summers…I can’t wait to tell the world about hot romance in cool, rainy Petersburg, Alaska!

Thanks for visiting us today, Rolynn, and good luck with LIE CATCHERS. For more on Rolynn Anderson’s funeral planner series please visit:

Thrill your friends:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About Sarah Andre

Romantic Suspense That Keeps You Up All Night!
I live in sunny FL, love daydreaming, reading and chocolate. I write in the wee hours of the morning before my helpless hubby and 2 male Pomeranian pups awaken with their demands. :) My debut LOCKED, LOADED and LYING is available now.

Good morning and welcome back, Rolynn!
I forgot to ask when LIE CATCHERS would be released…?

Let’s see. On My Bucket List:
(Professionally) Sign a book contract.
(Personally) Gosh, this one’s hard…I’m perfectly content and want for nothing in this area. Will have to get back to you after a large cup of coffee. 🙂

Your Funeral Planner series sounds so intriguing! I love how you came up with the characters in your book!

Bucket List:
(Professionally) Known as full-time author.
(Personally) Take a cooking class in Italy. Read a book on a tropical island. Travel the world with my kids and husband. See the pyramids in Egypt, the temples of Eastern religions, the ruins in Greece…Oh, my. I just realized my Bucket List really is a long one! I better get cracking! And win the lottery. It sounds expensive 🙂

Try InternationalKitchen.com (could beTheInternationalKitchen) Not sure if they are still around but I went to a week-long Tuscan cooking class in 2004. Lived and cooked in a private villa/vineyard. The organization hosts these all over Europe for all budgets.

Welcome back, Jan! I love the obituary as goal-setting device. Franklin Covey recommended that in his 7 Habits books and it’s interesting how your perspective on your life and what you’re doing changes when you look at them with the end in mind.

Most of my bucket list items are travel-related (Australia/NZ, Greece, Iceland [on our itinerary for this summer], more time in Europe/live in Europe again) because everything else I really want to do, I do. Within budget-contraints and reason, of course. 😉

Good morning everyone. My computer isn’t cooperating this a.m., but glad to see all of you here! This is my second try… Cooking school in Italy? Sarah, you lucky woman. Niecey, go for it! I’m set up for a bucket list trip to the Grand Canyon-never been.! Greece. The Adriatic. Spain. Yes! Professionally, the number 100,000 sticks in my mind. Surely I could sell that many books. Dream big, they say! Thanks for the compliments on SWOON! Keep those bucket lists coming! Rolynn

Mac, I’m with you on the lonnnnnggggg bucket list. I often think of the line from OUR TOWN: Oh world, you’re much too wonderful for anyone to realize you. Not the it’s easy in this world, but what a neat place to mush forward! For instance, on my little bucket list is the wish to have not one but four of my eight fruit trees actually bear fruit!

Rolynn,
Your series sounds great and I loved your obit assignment. What a great way to open young minds to possibilities. As for my bucket list, the one item I fear will never happen is to make the NY Times Bestseller list. But I have hope. 🙂
Thanks for the great post,
Caryn

My bucket list – I’d really like to become fluent in a language other than English. I took enough German in high school and college have a starting point, but it’s been a long time.

I also would like to finish knitting the sweater I started in 2001… all that wool yarn in the closet makes me feel guilty. (I *did* knit a few sweaters for my kids since 2001, but I’ve never made an adult-sized one.)

Oh Rachel, twins again. I took German the same time too (since I lived there as a child the classes were an easy A when I returned, LOL) and I also have knitting paraphernalia in my back closet…such pretty colored yarn too!

My husband got me Rosetta Stone – Italian and I plugged thru the first of 4 DVDs. It was cool. Need to get back to it one of these days. Ciao! 🙂

Ohhh! ITALIAN. Love that language…and it’s a must for taking advantage of the cooking school 🙂 You’ll have to go back! I’m thinking if I could learn how to make a great veal scallopini, I’d be blissful!

Rachel, it’s good to return to K&T. My brother is fluent in German and was ‘loosing it’ without using it until some German friends visited…during the storm on the east coast. They camped out in his house instead of touristing…spoke German the whole time…my brother is fluent again! Time for you to take a trip to Germany, maybe? Good excuse!

Rachel, adult-sized sweaters are so overrated, especially when they turn out like the Icelandic sweater I knitted for myself. It’s so big that my entire family can wear it at the same time. I keep it my closet so the moths have something to eat 😉

Welcome back to Kiss and Thrill, Rolynn! I loved Fadeout and am really looking forward to Swoon! As far as my bucket list is concerned, the only thing on it is to sell a book. I know I could self-publish, but I still want to sell. I guess I still need that validation!

Thanks for the kudo on FADEOUT. Get ready for double the action in SWOON, when Jan Solvang gets her groove! I’m crossing fingers for you that 2013 will be your year. What launched my publishing career was grabbing a multi-published mentor to guide me. She let me use her name with a publisher…and suddenly there was light at the end of that dark tunnel. It’s a tricky business and we need each other’s guidance, for sure!

Nothing like making a bucket list for motivation and imagination. Great post, Rolynn! Right now I’m working toward writing stories that bring as much enjoyment as I get myself from reading and hope that leads towards my other goals of being able to contribute a little more significantly to the household income and reach a wider audience. And someday being famous enough to appear on Top Gear – the original UK version, of course! 😉

Those are both great goals, Melissa. Really, the writing has to be fun. I worked with a couple of professional marketers and they said the same thing about promo…we have to enjoy it. Of course you’ll get a BIG kick out of your guest spot on Top Gear. I’ve got my calendar ready to note the date 😉

Hi Rolynn, I love the growth arc for Elwood! I have a huge soft spot for scotties. And westies, too. Most immediate on my bucket list is to figure out (and then actually use) the WorkFlowy app I downloaded in January to have a super organized and productive year.

I suppose you’re right, Sarah. Ok, I thought of a better item for my bucket list. I’d like to institute an annual mini-vacation (a long weekend, perhaps) with my mom and my two sisters–no kids, no spouses, no pets. Just us girls 🙂

Top Gear is originally a British reality program about top end sports cars. 3 guys, who are hilarious, BTW, test/race cars each week along winding European cliffs or one lane Tuscan towns. They usually have a celebrity (Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz) visit and the hosts make them race a crappy stick-shift junk-car around a winding racetrack. Their time goes on a giant board with all the other celebrity times. Tom Cruise took his last turn on 2 wheels, he was so competitive!

America ripped off the show a few years ago but the British one is much better. The Brit show was canceled for a few years but just started up again.

Top Gear is so much fun even if you’re not a car enthusiast, and especially if you enjoy dry British humor. Jeremy Clarkson and I share a unapologetic love for all things Aston Martin. Ooh, something else for my bucket list…

I wish I had teachers who were so creative as to assign writing your own obit. Most of mine just read information out of a book and expected you to take notes.

The most important thing on my bucket list is to take my mom to Switzerland. She’s always wanted to go, but raising 5 kids as a single parent when those were rare, didn’t leave money for vacations. She’s going to be 77 this year so I better start saving faster. Thankfully, she’s in excellent health.

I wanted to say how thrilled I was that Brenda read SWOON and is helping me promote it with her testimonial. She is truly one of the most generous of talented authors. Don’t forget to bid for items in her Diabetes Auction coming up soon. What a good cause! brendanovak.auctionanything.com

I contacted Brenda on Facebook and she said: Author Brenda Novak wrote: “Argh! WordPress keeps asking me to log in, Rolynn. I tried to respond and leave a comment, but I’m not sure it posted (and I can’t remember my password to get in). I hate all the passwords we need to do ANYTHING these days.”

Okay, this is far and away the best ding-dang blog and the most fun I’ve had in a long time. What great responses and wonderful energy here…and I’ve learned stuff, too! Thanks to Sarah for her great questions and interaction with all of us here. Kiss and Thrill is a happening place, no question. I’m ready to swoon, I’ll tell you. Tak fer alt (Norwegian)-thanks for everything! Rolynn